


The Bet

by bilgegungoren00



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: But mostly fluff, F/M, Fluff, High School AU, Humans AU, and slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-04 09:51:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13362078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bilgegungoren00/pseuds/bilgegungoren00
Summary: What if winning means losing something else? Something more important?When Kara and Mon-El, on a whim, decided to make a bet about who will be in a loving relationship first, they only meant it to be a fun, silly, non-serious competition. But it gets a bit more complicated than that when they start developing feelings for each other.





	1. Coupley Things

**Author's Note:**

> okay, so, as it turns out, when your exam week is over and you take 6 exams in 3 days, you're so tired at the end that you literally don't want to do anything other than lying down and watching TV. but don't worry, that doesn't mean i forgot all the other stories i'm writing!!! it just might...take...a bit more time to post than i hoped for lol :) i hope you can forgive me :)
> 
> anyway, in the meantime, i hope you enjoy this silly one-shot turned multichap ;)

High school was a time when no one stayed single for more than a couple of months—and no relationship lasted more than a couple of _weeks._ Well, at least it seemed like that to Kara, because whenever she turned her head she saw a couple snuggled up in a corner. Especially as summer approached, everyone started to couple up for what she assumed a “fun summer fling.”

Of course, that was only true for the “popular” students of the school. As for herself… It was the end of freshman year, and she hadn’t even gone on _one date_ with anyone.

She couldn’t help voicing that thought to her best friend during lunch time, when the newest couple of the school—James and Lucy, who seemed to spend every bit of their free time together—passed by them, giggling. “Do you ever feel like everyone around you is in a relationship and you’re just the third wheel to all of them?”

Mon-El lifted his head from the blob of gray matter that school called mashed potatoes to look at her. He lifted his brow. “What?” She sighed, fiddling with her fork. The question had made her lose her appetite, despite not having anything to eat since that morning.

“Look at them,” she gestured around with her head subtly, showing Mon-El all those couples doing the coupley things…couples did that she didn’t even have the chance to experience before. “Almost everyone is in a relationship except me, and that isn’t even the worst part. I’ve never even _met_ anyone that I could potentially see myself in a relationship with.” She rested her cheek on her hand with a grunt. “It makes me feel like I’m gonna be alone forever.”

“You’re not gonna be alone forever—“ Mon-El tried to say, but he was silenced by Kara’s glare. He lifted his hands innocently. “Hey, I’m just saying. It’s just the first year of high school. No one expects you to meet the love of your life now.”

“I know _that_ ,” Kara murmured, pursing her lips with distaste. She couldn’t help staring at James and Lucy. “But a relationship wouldn’t be too bad, you know?” She absentmindedly played with the strands with her hair until she heard Mon-El chuckle. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. “What?”

“I was just going to say that you don’t need a relationship to be happy—which I still believe, by the way—but I’ve never been in a relationship either, so…who knows? Maybe if you find the right person, a relationship can make you the happiest version of yourself.” Kara arched her brow and straightened up. Mon-El had never been in a relationship? Well, that was news to her.

“You’ve never been in a relationship?” she couldn’t help asking. He stopped eating—seriously, how was he eating that thing anyway—to look up at her, his brow arched.

“Is that weird?” She blinked, shaking her head immediately.

“No, that’s not what I meant. I just thought… I mean, you’re _objectively_ kinda hot and, I might be a bit biased here, but you’re also really nice. I just assumed… Whatever,” she tried to dismiss it when she saw that he’d started to grin. “Forget I said anything.”

“You think I’m hot?”

“ _Objectively_ hot—“

“And nice?” She threw him a piece of napkin, which landed on the table before even reaching him.

“Just shut up, you idiot.” She returned to her food, which became cold and even more uneatable in the last couple of minutes. She tried to ignore Mon-El when he reached forward to hold her hand.

“Hey, if you’re wondering, I find you _objectively_ hot, too.” She snorted, still keeping her eyes on her plate. She tried to suppress her smile, even as he started to play with the sleeve of her sweater. “And nice. And the bestest best friend anyone can have.”

“Now you’re just sucking up to me,” she objected, lifting her head and shooing her hand away. He shrugged.

“You never said that wasn’t allowed.” She glared at him. “If you’re waiting for me to apologize, I won’t. I was being completely serious.” She threw him another napkin. He just laughed.

Kara scowled at him, turning to her plate to ignore him again, but his words stopped her yet again. “But I think this gives us a perfect opportunity.” She _had to_ look at him with that, even though every part of her wanted to be stubbornly mad at him. She arched her brow. She already felt like she wouldn’t like where this was going. “We could make a bet.”

“A bet about…what exactly?” His grin looked almost too big to be real.

“About having a relationship. You know, which one of us is gonna get a boyfriend or a girlfriend first. And the loser would have to do something for the winner… What?” he asked when Kara snorted. She shook her head.

“That’s ridiculous, Mon-El. I could ask a random person to pretend to be my boyfriend to win the bet, but it wouldn’t mean anything.” Which was correct. It wasn’t as if no one had ever asked her out. She just never liked anyone enough to say yes.

“Exactly.” Mon-El smugly crossed his arms and leaned back as he said that. “It doesn’t matter that you’ve never had a relationship or you don’t have one now. What’s important is to be with someone that you actually like, and actually likes you back.” She almost wanted to roll her eyes at that. Well, _duh._ Of course she didn’t want to have a relationship just to have a relationship. But it would be nice to have someone she could lean on whenever she needed it.

“I know that, dummy. But you can’t tell me it wouldn’t be good to be in a loving relationship.” She arched her brow to challenge him. He opened his mouth to fire a retort…but stopped short. He sighed.

“Touché.” She couldn’t help grinning…until an idea popped into her mind. It was so ridiculous that in any other situation she would’ve face-palmed herself for even thinking about it, but for right now…it was perfect. She leaned forward and crossed her arms over the table.

“You know what, I’ll make you a bet,” she said, stopping Mon-El as he was about to throw a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. He narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t like the sound of that.” She smirked. Oh, he wouldn’t like this at all.

“How about we make that bet of yours about who’ll be in a _loving_ relationship first?” Mon-El seemed almost exasperated as he opened his mouth, so she jumped forward before he could shut her down. “It doesn’t have to be something serious, or something like a competition. It can be like…like a fun thing between us.”

“Kara…”

“The winner could get something really big,” she offered, trying to coerce him into accepting. “Come on, Mon-El,” she said, poking his tray. “It’ll be fun. We could determine the rules and all… It would be like…like it has to last for more than a month. Two months,” she corrected herself, pointing at him when he started to object. “And it has to be real too, so that eliminates finding someone to pretend to be your boyfriend and girlfriend. And you should like them, at least enough to see a future with them.” She pursed her lips and widened her eyes, putting on the expression her sister Alex called “puppy-dog-eyes”. According to Alex, no one could say no to them. “Don’t tell me we can’t have fun with this, Mon-El.”

Alex was proved right when Mon-El sighed and shook his head. “Okay, fine, as ridiculous as it is… I accept your bet.”

Kara couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear with his answer. Oh, this was going to be so much fun.


	2. Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! hope you like this chapter :)

It had been half a year since Mon-El and Kara started the bet, and…it was still going on. That wasn’t to say that they didn’t have relationships. A couple of months ago, Mon-El had dated a girl named Alesia for three weeks until they broke things off, and there was that disastrous date with Courtney that…he didn’t even want to think about. He also knew that Kara dated Adam, her classmate, for five weeks before they broke up for an unknown reason—Kara had been so angry and crying so much that night that he hadn’t even wanted to ask—and had a short fling with Nolan, which she said was “more fun than anything serious.” Oh, and he couldn’t forget Eve, the girl Mon-El had started dating a couple of weeks ago…and broke up with just the previous night.

“So…” He was distracted from his thoughts with Kara’s voice coming from behind him. “How are things going with Eve?” He stopped stirring the spaghetti, briefly considering what to say to that question. But…what was the point of lying to Kara anyway? She would eventually find out the truth, and he wouldn’t have won the bet. Well, he couldn’t have won anyway, as he didn’t like Eve in the way he should like her. He couldn’t explain why if you asked him, as Eve was an all around amazing girl, but he just…didn’t like her in the way he should like her. It didn’t _feel_ right. And what was one of the conditions of the bet? That he should see a future with his girlfriend. If he had to be honest, he couldn’t even see himself be truly happy with Eve.

“It didn’t work out,” he decided to say finally, focusing back on the spaghetti. “I broke up with her yesterday.”

_“Yes!”_ Kara exclaimed quietly—at least Mon-El assumed she was trying to be quiet even though he could very clearly hear her. He couldn’t help whipping his head around to look at her incredulously. Did she…actually feel happy about his break up?

“Excuse me?” Her words seemed to catch up with her only then. Her eyes widened as she erased the smile off of her face.

“I mean, I didn’t mean to say yes about the…the break up. I wasn’t happy that you broke up with Eve, I was just happy that I didn’t lose our bet!” He arched his brow, fighting the smile that was making its way on his face. Kara was just so adorable when she was flustered, and he wanted that to continue for a little bit. He made sure the spaghetti was okay before crossing his arms over his chest.

“And you think that makes it okay?” Kara narrowed her eyes and reached across the kitchen island to hit his arm. And there it was, that giddy feeling in his stomach that made everything feel so _right_ in a way he never felt with Eve.

He dismissed that thought immediately and instead focused on Kara. “Give me a break, jerk,” she was saying. “I’ve had three exams in the last four days. I feel drained already, and I have a _calculus_ exam next week.” She’d said calculus in such a way that you’d think it was the incarnation of the devil. This time, Mon-El couldn’t help chuckling.

“Fine,” he said as he returned to the spaghetti and turned off the stove. “Fine, you’re forgiven. And besides, I still don’t understand why you hate calculus when you’re so good at it.”

“You can hate something while also excelling at that said thing, Mon-El,” Kara argued confidently. Mon-El just sighed as an answer, letting silence engulf the room, at least before a soft question interrupted it. “What happened between you and Eve? I thought you were going really well.” Kara sounded genuine as she asked that, no sense of triumph in her voice. Just…just genuine concern, so much so that Mon-El had to bite back the snarky retort that made its way to his lips. While Kara could sometimes speak without thinking, and be a bit stubborn and hotheaded sometimes, she really did care about her friends, most of all him, and he knew she wouldn’t make light of this breakup. At the end, she’d just want him to be okay.

“It wasn’t working out,” he said as he drained the spaghetti. “Eve is a really nice girl, but…I felt like we were nothing more than friends, you know. It didn’t feel right inside.”

“I’m sorry,” Kara said when he turned around to place the spaghetti plates on the island. He just shrugged.

“Don’t be. It wasn’t meant to be.” He offered her a small, mischievous smile. “And besides, that means our bet is still on.” Kara narrowed her eyes, yet still, a grin was pulling her lips.

“That’s true,” she said, pointing her fork at him. “And now that we’re both single, it’s anyone’s game.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say _that_. I’m sure there are a lot of girls in school who just want a piece of this hottie.” He gestured at himself and lifted his brow, trying to ignore the fact that he was in sweatpants, his hair was a mess, and he was wearing his “home” glasses. His parents were on a business trip for a couple of days, so being home alone—well, with Kara now technically—why would he bother changing his clothes or wearing contact lenses?

Yet he also couldn’t fault Kara for grimacing. “Ew. Please—Please don’t say that again. Nobody wants your hottie bits, Mon-El.” He put his hand on his chest.

“Ouch. And here I thought you found me hot.”

“Certainly not with those sweatpants and glasses—Okay, that came out really bad.” She closed her eyes and shook her head, missing Mon-El’s small smile. As he’d just said before: Flustered Kara was just so adorable, especially when her curls were messily thrown down her shoulders and her glasses slid down her nose a bit. “I actually like your glasses.”

“Well, thank you very much,” he said dryly, rolling his eyes. Actually, he knew that Kara liked his glasses, because the first day she saw them at school—he was out of contact lenses and had to wear them—she’d stolen glances at him and played with his glasses all day. _Don’t blame me,_ was her defense. _You look damn cute in those._ He might’ve called the comment borderline flirty if he didn’t know Kara. She was just very affectionate to her friends.

There was also a small part of him that wrote off any kind of flirtiness from Kara as “wishful thinking”, a part he chose to ignore more often than not.

“But putting aside your adorableness,” Kara said, making hand gestures at him that made Mon-El lightly chuckle, “there’s one thing you’re forgetting about this whole bet thingy. There might be a lot of girls drooling for you—which I still highly doubt—but for you to actually _win_ the bet, you _have to_ like them back.” She seemed so triumphant saying that, so sure of herself that Mon-El, _of course_ , had to challenge her.

“How do you know I don’t like anyone?” he asked, crossing his arms over the table. Kara made a face at him.

“Do _you_ have a crush on someone?” Mon-El was ready to snort, to tell her that he’d just gotten out of a relationship he didn’t like someone _yet_ , but when he looked over at her…he froze. Her blue eyes shining with curiosity under the dim light of his house, her hair brushing her cheeks softly like the rays of a sun, her lips looking so soft even without makeup… She didn’t even _have_ makeup on, and she was wearing an oversized sweater and leggings, as they were only here to study calculus, yet she looked more beautiful than any girl at school who was always well put-together. And there wasn’t any other girl either that he’d rather be with anyway. He always thought that was because he and Kara were just really close friends, but… It was because he actually liked her. He… _loved_ her.

He couldn’t believe that he realized that only now. They’d been friends— _best_ friends—for so long that he’d written off any affection he felt towards Kara as friendly feelings. But he couldn’t deny the butterflies that fluttered in his stomach whenever he heard Kara laugh. He couldn’t deny the tightness he felt in his chest whenever he was around her. And he definitely couldn’t deny that her name was the name that popped into his mind with her question. _You,_ he’d thought without even hesitation. _It’s you that I have a crush on. I was actually stupid enough to fall in love with my best friend._ He thought that only happened in cheesy romance movies, but now…

“Um, Mon-El?” He slipped away from his thoughts when he saw Kara waving a hand in front of his face. He blinked, hoping his blush wasn’t too visible, and she couldn’t hear just how fast his heart was beating. He loved Kara. He loved his _best friend…_ God, he’d messed up so, so _badly._ “You okay? You just spaced out a bit.”

_No._ He wasn’t okay at all. His heart was thundering, he felt sick, and he wanted to slam his head against a wall multiple times. Yet he couldn’t show her that. Kara couldn’t know that anything was wrong. Her friendship was more important to him than anything else, and he couldn’t ruin it because of these…newly discovered stupid feelings. He tried to cover up his panic with a light chuckle.

“Yeah, I just…was thinking about something. Something unimportant.” Disbelief colored Kara’s eyes as she smiled mischievously and rested her chin on her hands.

“Oh, really? So you weren’t thinking about your _‘crush’?”_

Mon-El snorted. “How would I do that if I don’t have a _crush?”_ What a lie that was. He didn’t even think he sounded convincing enough when he saw Kara lift her brows in suspicion.

“Yeeeah. Right,” she mumbled over her spaghetti. She seemed like she wanted to say something else, yet Mon-El’s glare stopped her. She lowered her fork over her plate sheepishly. “Anyway… How about we start that calculus study?” she changed the subject. Mon-El immediately jumped at the distraction, wanting to push aside his realization as quickly as possible.

Yet he knew, deep in his heart, that forgetting his feelings it would be much harder than pushing them aside.


	3. Obviously In Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this chapter is a bit short, but i kinda wanted Winn in the story to be Mon-El's bestie - as always, and as i wish we'll have back on the show because god knows i miss Monwinn friendship - soooo you can think of it as kind of a filler chapter before the real climax comes. and i promise, the next chapter will be longer ;)
> 
> anyway, hope you like it!

Winn liked to sleep in as late as possible on the weekends. There were times that he didn’t wake up until 1 p.m., even if he slept as early as ten the previous day. He just never got the chance to sleep in on weekdays because of school that he took every opportunity that he had to do it.

That’s why, when his doorbell rang at 9 a.m. on Saturday and he was woken up from a comfortable sleep, his first instinct was just to ignore the bell. Yet whoever was at his door was persistent, because a knock came a couple of seconds later, and when Winn didn’t answer it again, the knock became more forceful. At the end, he had to push himself off the bed, stringing together a couple of complaints and curses as he reached for his bedside counter to take his glasses, and groggily walked to the door. “I’m coming!” he yelled when he heard another knock. “I’m coming…you jerk that woke me up from my beauty sleep.” He muttered the last sentence quietly as he swung his door open, coming face to face with—

“Mon-El?” He wasn’t sure whether the guy was really here or he was dreaming, because Mon-El _knew_ Winn would be unavailable on Saturdays until at least 1 p.m., and he would _never_ bother him.

Yet when Mon-El actually lifted his head, Winn understood exactly why he was there. He wasn’t feeling well. At all.

He quickly pushed away the complaint speech he started writing in his head about how disrespectful it was that Mon-El interrupted his sleep on a weekend and instead focused on his friend. God knew just how many times Winn went to him when he needed something at very odd hours of the day, and Mon-El hadn’t complained once. He even remembered a time the guy baked a lava cake _at 2 a.m._ because Winn was crying over his breakup with his girlfriend. And all that time he never asked for anything back.

It was time Winn returned the favor.

“Hey, buddy,” Mon-El said, his voice hoarse. Winn couldn’t decide whether it was from sleeplessness or because he actually cried. You could never be too sure with Mon-El, as he mostly hid his feelings to himself…or talked to Kara about them, as the girl seemed to be the only person that he let inside those steel walls of his. Which was one reason Winn couldn’t turn him back just to go to sleep: even the fact that he came here to tell him about his problem meant this was important. “I know Saturdays are your sleeping time, but I really… I needed to talk to someone and…”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Winn said, “and remind you the phrase that I just made up right now, but I firmly believe in: bros before sleeping in on Saturdays, especially when those said bros are upset and need someone to talk to.” Mon-El arched his brow. “And you can’t tell me that I’m wrong. Now, you wanna tell me what’s going on, or do I need to force it out of you?”

Mon-El seemed conflicted at first, as if he didn’t want to bother Winn…bother anyone, really. Gosh, the guy could be annoyingly selfless sometimes. Winn was just about to tell him that it was _okay_ to share his problems, when one sentence left Mon-El’s mouth.

“I think I’m in love with Kara.”

* * *

If he had to be honest, when Winn saw Mon-El all worried and upset, he’d thought the guy would drop a bomb on him. He didn’t expect his worry to be his love for Kara, which had been so obvious to Winn—and anyone with two eyes and common sense—that he could only blankly stare at Mon-El for a second before he snapped out of his stupor and gestured him to come inside. Though, granted, he assumed the realization must’ve dropped on Mon-El like a bomb.

Poor guy seemed so shaken that even the coffee Winn tucked in his hands couldn’t stop his trembling.

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning,” Winn said, realizing he was supposed to be the one to keep it together right now, for both of them. “How did you say you realized you loved her, exactly?”

Mon-El shuddered again before he could even answer. “We were… We were just joking about—about the bet, you know? About who could win it first. And I said… I said I would win it, because there were all these girls that would want to be with me. But it was just a joke, you know? It wasn’t serious.” He looked at Winn desperately after that, as if he wanted to make sure that his friend understood. Winn hastily nodded. Despite how ridiculous that bet about relationships was, it was a constant tease between Mon-El and Kara, and he also knew they had their fun with it instead of taking it seriously. He’d listened to too much of their banter to _not_ know that.

Yet everything was bound to get serious when real feelings were involved, he guessed. It seemed like Mon-El was realizing that, too.

“And then,” Mon-El continued, taking him out of his thoughts, “Kara said that as long as I didn’t like someone, I could never win the bet. She asked me whether I had a crush on anyone, and…”

“You realized you had a crush on her.”

“I realized I _loved_ her, Winn,” he countered, as if he wanted his friend to know this was more serious than just a fleeting crush. “Her face appeared in my mind the moment she asked me that question. It was impossible to deny it. Deny what I was feeling. I… I love her.”

“Well, took you long enough to realize it,” Winn couldn’t help muttering under his breath. Mon-El’s eyes shot up to his friend.

“What?” Winn sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Mon-El, the whole school knows you’ve been in love with Kara for months. I’m not involved in any of them, but there are even bets going around as to whether you’ll get together or not.” The rumors also included Kara being in love with Mon-El, too, but Winn stayed silent about that part. It wasn’t his confession to make.

A soft blush tinted Mon-El’s cheeks. “Was it… Was it that obvious?” Winn could almost see the fear in his eyes. He was afraid that Kara realized it, too, and was playing dumb. He was afraid that she knew he loved her, and she didn’t love him back, so she was pretending like she didn’t know anything. Yet Winn doubted that was the case, at all. In fact, he was pretty sure Kara loved Mon-El back…even though she didn’t realize that just yet.

“Not to Kara, I don’t think,” he said with a shrug. Mon-El’s shoulders sagged with relief. “But that’s besides the point. Dude…” Winn slid forward to look at his friend’s face. “What are you going to do about it?” Mon-El deflated with that question, curling into himself on the couch.

“What can I do? I can’t tell her about it. Not only it might ruin our friendship, there’s also this stupid bet that we’ve made, and she can’t win it if she’s with me. I can’t win it either, ever, because I’m never going to like anyone but…but her.” He was speaking so fast that he ran out of breath quickly and his voice trailed off. “How can I even _hope_ to win when she’s around?”

Winn watched his friend as he played with the ropes of his sweatshirt. He didn’t even seem to realize that he wasn’t actually upset about the bet. He was only using it to deflect from what really hurt him. “Mon-El…” he said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you really upset because you can’t win the bet, or because you can’t be with Kara?”

The words only seemed to dawn on Mon-El a couple of seconds later. He blinked once, twice, a veil of tears falling over his eyes. He couldn’t do anything other than leaning his head over Winn’s shoulder when he pulled his friend close.

“What am I going to do?” Mon-El asked a couple of seconds later, so quietly that Winn couldn’t be sure if he was asking him or was just talking to himself. He opened his mouth to answer, yet no words came out. So he opted to pretend like he didn’t hear Mon-El.

What could he say anyway?


	4. In Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like this :)

There were those times in life that something that was very silly and ridiculous from the beginning became so heavy and serious that you wondered how exactly the whole thing came there. It was that time for the bet Mon-El and Kara made about relationships…at least for Mon-El. He didn’t even know if Kara remembered the bet, as she hadn’t mentioned it for a week at least, yet for the last week, he couldn’t forget about it. And with each passing day, he felt a weight pressing him down more and more, until he could barely keep his shoulders straight.

Because the bet was close to ending. And no, it wasn’t because _he_ was in a relationship. Oh, no. It might’ve been about five months since he realized he was in love with Kara, yet those feelings still hadn’t faded and were very much real. It was because _Kara_ had been in a relationship with _James Olsen—_ James-freaking-Olsen, the most popular guy in school—for close to two months. And when he said close, he meant that the _next day_ would mark the second month of their relationship. The bet would end, Kara would win, and it really shouldn’t matter to him at all other than the fact that he would have to do her bidding for a week, but it did. It mattered so damn much, to the point that it hurt.

Because it meant that he would also be losing the girl that he loved.

He knew the conditions of the bet. Two month dating period. Real feelings. And seeing the possibility of a future. Since Kara was dating James for close to two months, Mon-El assumed the last two was true. And now, once the first became true as well, it would mean Kara and James had a solid, strong relationships that wouldn’t end soon. It would mean that Kara truly liked James, if not _in love_ with him, and Mon-El would always stay as her best friend. It would make everything all the more real and serious, and…it hurt.

Those thoughts were milling around in his head as he watched her struggle with her history homework from his place on the couch. They’d leaned onto the opposite corners of it, with Kara’s feet propped up the couch and brushing his legs, and she looked so damn adorable that way that it should’ve been illegal. Yet that was just who she was. Always cute, always kind, always beautiful.

And always not his.

He wanted to shake off that thought desperately and return to his calculus study, yet it was impossible. He couldn’t help himself as he said, “So… It seems like you’ll be winning our bet.” Kara lifted her head from her homework, biting the back of her pencil lightly. She arched her brow.

“Huh?”

“Our bet…” Mon-El searched her face, waiting for her to realize what he meant. Yet she only continued staring at her blankly. “You know, with James…” he tried explaining further, even though just saying the guy’s name brought a bad taste to his mouth. “You’ve been dating for almost two months.” Kara’s eyes widened.

“Oh. _Oh._ I…haven’t even noticed that.” She took out her phone to look at, Mon-El assumed, the calendar. “Yeah. There’s only—“

“A day left,” Mon-El finished her words. She lifted her head to look at him.

“You’ve been counting the days?” _Yes,_ he couldn’t help thinking, even as a blush tinted his cheeks. He couldn’t _stop_ counting, he couldn’t stop hoping that maybe…maybe Kara didn’t like James as much as he thought she liked her, maybe they’d break up, and maybe he’d still have a chance with her. Not that it was her fault that he lost his chance. It was his stupidity. She shouldn’t just stop dating people and wait for him just because he was too scared to tell that he loved her.

He tried to shrug off her words. “You know, I didn’t want to _lose_ the bet.” _I didn’t want to lose you._ “And then I just tried to prepare myself to be your lackey for about a week, so…”

“Oh, right.” Kara smirked mischievously at that. “I’d almost forgotten that. Thank you for reminding me.”

Instead of saying anything, Mon-El threw a pillow at her, causing her to giggle and almost drop her book. She removed the pillow from her face, and he was just getting prepared for her to throw it back, but instead, she just placed it on her lap and sat up.

“But are you _sure_ that’s the only thing bothering you?” she asked, her brow arched. Mon-El’s heart stuttered in his chest. She couldn’t have known that he was…that he loved her, right? He’d tried so hard to _hide_ it from her, to the point of staying away from her whenever he felt too overwhelmed with his feelings. He didn’t want her to feel bad for not reciprocating his feelings. She had the right to be truly happy in a relationship without worrying about him.

“What else could be bothering me?” he asked, hoping his voice didn’t sound as thin as it felt. Kara narrowed her eyes at him.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she quipped, feigning uncertainty when it was pretty obvious that she knew what she was talking about. “It could be how you’ve been ignoring me more and more ever since I started dating James. It could be how you’ve been doing everything you can to stay away from me whenever I am with James. It could be you not answering my calls and texts occasionally, and while that might not have been a big problem for another person, but for someone who answered every one of my calls and who texted back within _minutes_ before _,_ it is worrying.”

Oh. Well. So he hadn’t been as inconspicuous as he hoped he was.

“Do you have a problem with James or something?” Mon-El whipped his head up to look at Kara with the question.

“No! God, of course…of course not. James is an amazing guy.” And he meant it, too, even though Kara was looking at him suspiciously. He cleared his throat to control his voice. “I was just… I didn’t realize I was doing that. I’ve just been having a…a stressful couple of weeks. That’s it.” Anyone would find seeing the girl of his dreams slipping away from his fingers stressful, he assumed.

“Uhh-huhh,” Kara muttered with a disbelieving nod. “Yeah, I think you’re smart enough to come up with a better excuse, Mon-El.”

“I wasn’t…coming up with an excuse!”

“See, I don’t believe that. I think you’re lying to me. I think you’re hiding something.”

“I’m not.”

“Are too.”

“I’m—“ Mon-El stopped when he realized his voice had started shaking, because damn, Kara was on point. He’d been lying to her, and he’d been hiding something from her, and the biggest problem was that there was nothing he could do about it. He could never let her know about his feelings. And he knew she would question him about it as long as he stayed, and…he didn’t know for how long he could handle that until he spilled the beans.

And he couldn’t let himself spill the beans. “You know what,” he said, tucking his calculus book to his bag, which had been sitting right next to the couch. “I think I better go. It’s getting late.” He stood up before Kara could even say anything about it.

“Wait, Mon-El.” She stopped him right as he was about to walk to the door. He turned to her, once again not being able to stop himself from thinking just how _beautiful_ she was, before he quickly dismissed that thought. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you too hard to reveal whatever is going on. It’s just… I’ve been worried about you. I just wanted to know if everything is fine.”

_Nothing is fine, Kara._

He offered her a small smile. “I’m fine, Kara. You don’t have to worry about me.” The lie felt sour on his tongue, and it didn’t seem like Kara believed it either.

“Are you sure?” she asked, turning around on the couch to face him properly. He nodded.

“Yeah. Anyway, I’m… I should leave you to your homework.” He backed to the door under Kara’s suspicious gaze. “See you tomorrow?”

The last thing he saw was Kara’s unsure nod before he left, feeling heavier than ever.

* * *

“And now he doesn’t even want to hang out with me!” Kara literally yelled at her phone as she plopped down on the couch, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand. Chocolate had always managed to calm her nerves down, and now, she really needed to calm down. “He literally ran out of my house in the middle of our study session, claiming it had gotten too late even though it was barely 7 p.m., and since then he hadn’t even been answering my calls.”

“Kara.” Her sister, Alex’s calm and strong voice coming from the phone stopped Kara’s rant.

“What?”

“You make it sound like Mon-El hates you now. He doesn’t _hate_ you.” Alex seemed so sure of that, but as Kara crossed her arms, she couldn’t feel that same confidence.

“Yeah, well, he’d been mostly staying away from me ever since…ever since I started dating James.” She straightened up. “Do you think he has a problem with James? I mean, I haven’t seen them hanging out much, but…”

“Isn’t it almost your second month anniversary with James?” Alex asked, taking her out of the questions in her mind. She nodded before she realized Alex couldn’t see her.

“I mean, yes, it’s tomorrow, but what does that have to do with anything?” She knew that meant she’d be winning the bet—which she tried not to think about because for some reason, it made her chest squeeze—but it was just a fun bet anyway! She didn’t think Mon-El would be upset about _that_.

“That means tomorrow you’ll have won the bet you made with Mon-El. And you might not think that it’s that serious, but for him, it is. For him, it means that you _truly_ want this relationship with James, and you _truly_ like him.”

“Okay, well, that still doesn’t explain why he’d be upset about _that_ ,” Kara shot back, running her fingers through her hair. Alex didn’t answer for a couple of seconds, so much so that she’d begun wondering whether her sister was still there, before she heard a soft voice.

“Kara…” Alex started slowly. “That boy has been in love with you for as long as I know him.”

Kara’s heart plummeted in his chest before it started thundering. She straightened up. _“What?”_

“Mon-El is in love with you,” Alex explained again, emphasizing every syllable. “…please don’t tell me you haven’t realized that before.”

“Alex, that ridiculous,” Kara tried to choke out. It had to be ridiculous, right? They were best friends, for God’s sake! Best friends only fell for each other in TV shows, movies, or numerous fanfictions people wrote about all kinds of fictional—and sometimes non-fictional—couples. Surely it wouldn’t happen to _them,_ right?

She didn’t even realize she’d said _them_ instead of _him_. “We’re best friends. There’s… There’s nothing more to it than that.”

_Are you sure?_ a little voice asked her in her mind. She quickly shut it up.

“Kara, best friends don’t steal glances at each other when they don’t think the other is looking,” Alex objected. “They don’t bake cookies for each other at 2 a.m. because the other is sad. And they surely don’t feel down that their friend is in a happy relationship. Well, happy-seeming, I guess I should say.”

“Alex, Mon-El doesn’t…” Yet her voice trailed off when she realized Alex was totally right. When it hit her that…that Mon-El truly liked her.

And if the way her heart fluttered was any indication, she liked him back, too.

_Oh, God._

“Does the silence mean you finally see my point?”

“He loves me,” Kara whispered, covering her hand with her mouth. “He’s actually in love with me.”

“And…?”

“And I might… I might like him back.”

“There we go!” Alex chirped happily. “Now, do I need to spell out what you need to do for you, or can you manage it yourself? Because I think we both know you aren’t winning that bet with James.”

“Yeah.” Kara was already on her feet, grabbing a jacket and her clutch, as she answered. “Alex… Thank you so much.”

“It was my pleasure,” Alex said before Kara ended the call, tucked her phone into her pocket, and ran out of her apartment. Though she did hear the last sentence Alex muttered before the call ended. “Now go get your guy.”


	5. Doughnuts and Kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like this :)

It was nine a.m. when someone knocked on Kara’s door, and before she even lifted her head from the pancakes she was cooking, she knew who it was. Well, at least she _hoped_ it was him, as otherwise, she would’ve been making pancakes _for two_ for nothing, but who else could it be anyway? She’d broken up with James the previous day, her parents were on a business trip, Alex was outside of town for college, and she didn’t think any of her friends other than _him_ would wake up at nine on a Saturday. Eight, if you counted the fact that he’d have to dress up and come here.

She flipped the last pancake onto the plate and wiped her hands to the towel before moving to the door. “I’m coming,” she said, jumping over her school bag to not trip over it. She seriously needed to tidy up her stuff before her parents returned. “I’m coming.” She threw open the door, coming face-to-face with the person she’d been wanting to see since yesterday. Mon-El.

With a bunch of… _balloons_ …in his hands?

She arched her brows at the balloons. “Mon-El?” He held them away from his face to see her, a smile on his face. A fake smile, Kara couldn’t help noting, which made her heart stutter as now, thanks to Alex, she had an idea what his act was all about. She just…didn’t have the chance to let _him_ know that she knew. The breakup with James had already drained her; she couldn’t go through another relationship drama so soon.

“Congratulations!” Mon-El exclaimed, stepping inside, trying to balance the balloons and the two bags in his hands. Kara closed the door without taking her eyes off of him.

“For…what?” she couldn’t help asking. She didn’t remember today being a special day. Well, except for—

“For winning the bet,” Mon-El explained, letting the balloons go. They floated to the ceiling. “You’ve been dating James for two months. And I wanted to celebrate that.” He put the bags on the kitchen island, taking a deep breath before he continued. He was trying to act happy for her, she could see, but there was no way she could miss the strain on his shoulders. She thought about telling him that she technically _didn’t_ win the bet, she’d broken up with James, but he was so cute when he was babbling to hide his heartbreak, and she _was_ also curious about what he bought her. One of the bags had a Dunkin Doughnuts logo on it, and her stomach had gotten really excited about that prospect. “We’ve got doughnuts and coffee here, and I also got you bunch of snacks, you know, Oreos, gummy bears and all, because I was pretty sure you’d ask me to buy them anyway… I mean, we’ve had this bet for about a year, winning it kind of deserves a celebration.” He turned to Kara then, only to see her smile with her arms crossed over her chest. “What?”

“Mon-El…” she said, moving to pull on one of the balloons’ string. Her chest swelled as she once again realized again how good a person Mon-El was, and why exactly she loved him. She knew he must be hurting, she knew his heart must be broken, yet he hid all of that and he _actually_ bought her all this stuff to celebrate her relationship just to make her happy. She felt so stupid for not realizing that she loved him sooner. He’d always been the one. “All of this is very nice and thoughtful, but I…I didn’t win the bet.” She moved to the kitchen when the toaster signaled that the toasts were done. She wasn’t looking at Mon-El, but she could feel his confusion as she prepared the breakfast plates.

“What? But I thought—“

“I broke up with James yesterday,” she explained nonchalantly, turning around with the plates to gauge Mon-El’s reaction. His eyes were wide and his hand was resting on the kitchen stool limply. “So technically I didn’t win the bet.” She pushed the plate in front of him. “Pancakes?”

Yet Mon-El didn’t even seem like he cared about the pancakes. He shook his head, trying to put his thoughts together. “But…I don’t understand. Why didn’t you wait for one more day?”

“One more day?”

“You…could’ve won if you waited. You could’ve…” Kara smiled when she understood what he was rambling about. But she also knew she couldn’t have waited, she couldn’t let him think that her relationship with James was serious. Alex was right. If she’d won the bet, Mon-El would think that she truly liked James. It wouldn’t be fair to either James or him if she let them believe that, when that wasn’t true at all.

“I actually couldn’t have,” she explained, reaching for the Dunkin Doughnuts bag and taking out one of the coffees from it. “The relationship didn’t fit our rules.” She actually would’ve preferred having some alcohol for liquid courage instead of coffee, as what she was about to confess wasn’t easy at all, yet she had no idea where her parents hid the alcohol and it was too late to look anyway. Caffeine had to be her courage today. She took a sip as she waited for Mon-El to say something, her heart fluttering in her chest. Would he tell her how he felt? She assumed no, as she didn’t think Mon-El would reveal his feelings so soon after her breakup, yet she wanted him to. She knew it looked bad to jump into a relationship right after getting out of another, and it might seem like a rebound, but she knew what she felt, and she knew it was real. Worst case scenario, they’d hide their relationship for some time. It would be okay. She was sure it would be okay.

“But…” Mon-El said, sitting across from her as if his knees couldn’t carry him anymore. He seemed so confused, so hopeful yet also so scared that Kara couldn’t help smiling. She knew why he was having such a hard time processing the news. He must’ve been waiting for it for so long, hoping against hope that she would break up with James, that now that it was actually happening he was so worried it wasn’t real. Not that he was a bad person, per se. He was just…human, and he loved her. It was natural to want to be with the person you loved. “It had been two months,” Mon-El continued, talking more to himself than Kara. “And James likes you, so the relationship is real… I don’t…”

“Mon-El,” Kara stopped him, reaching forward to put a hand on his wrist. “There’s one more condition to the bet.”

It took Mon-El a couple of seconds to realize what he meant, and his eyes widened then. She smiled. “I didn’t like him back. Granted, it took me _almost_ winning the bet and a very intense phone call with Alex to realize that, but… I couldn’t see a future with him. I couldn’t see myself with him. And trust me, I tried to think about our future, but there was just someone else that replaced him whenever I tried.”

She didn’t think Mon-El even breathed as he asked, “Who?” She could see what he was thinking—what he was _hoping—_ just from his eyes. Instead of answering, she stood up, walking around the kitchen island to stand in front of him. She cupped his cheek lightly, watching the conflict in his eyes dissolve into suspicion and then hope, feeling the way he leaned his cheek onto her hand, before she leaned forward to press her lips on his.

She felt him almost _melt_ under her kiss, his hand snaking up her waist to pull her close. It was a soft, unsure kiss, as both of them didn’t know what this was and didn’t want to take it too far yet. She pulled back a couple of seconds to look at him, to see his reaction, to make sure Alex hadn’t been wrong and she didn’t completely embarrass herself in front of her best friend, as well as probably ruining their friendship.

Yet Mon-El’s relaxed and happy face gave her all the answers she needed. She was smiling by the time he opened his eyes. “Does that answer your question?” she asked him, arching a brow. His hand tightened around her waist as he smiled back at her.

“Yeah,” he whispered, and he didn’t even let her say anything else as he pulled her close again.

(They only remembered that they had coffees to drink and pancakes to eat too late, and by that time they’d gone too cold and uneatable, yet Kara—who consumed any bit of food if she could help it—was amused to find out that she didn’t care. Being with Mon-El worth it.)


	6. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know it's a bit short, but i hope you like this teeny tiny epilogue, and I hope you enjoyed the story just as much as i enjoyed writing it! 
> 
> thank you so so much for all your comments and support :) love y'all :)

“Do you know what day it is?” With Kara’s sleepless voice coming from his chest, Mon-El lifted his head from the pillow. They’d just came to Kara’s house after school, to “study”, but the first thing they did when they arrived was just drop everything to the floor and lie down on the couch. Kara’s parents would be coming home in a couple of hours, and Jeremiah, her father, had a strict no-touch policy; this was really the only time they could relax together.

“It’s our second-month anniversary?” Mon-El muttered, unsure. “But I thought we already celebrated that. I’d even bought you _two dozen roses,_ for two months. And chocolate.” Kara pushed up from his chest to make a face at him.

“You got me a Snickers from the school canteen.”

“That counts as chocolate.”

“Uh-huh. Right.” She extended the last word mockingly. He scowled at her.

“Hey! Those roses cost a lot, okay? I have to save some money for myself, too.”

“Hah. Yeah, that might’ve been a good excuse, if I didn’t know that your parents have enough money to buy about a billion roses and _still_ not get bankrupt.”

“Don’t they say that it’s the _thought_ that matters?” Kara made another face at him, this time also punching him lightly on his chest. He didn’t even fight his smile, but it only made Kara roll her eyes.

“Whatever, you asshat. That wasn’t what I wanted to say anyway.” Mon-El arched his brow. “It’s our two month anniversary,” she repeated what he said. He must’ve continued to stare at her blankly, because she sighed. “The bet, Mon-El. It’s the first time that we’ve been in a relationship that fit all our rules. We love each other, we see a possible future for our relationship, and it’s been two months.” His eyes widened.

“Oh.” Kara chuckled at his obliviousness.

“Yeah.”

“Does that mean we both win the bet?” he couldn’t help asking. Kara thought for a second.

“I guess so. So do we both need to be each other’s lackey? ‘Cause I don’t think that will work well. But then that means winning means nothing.” She almost seemed disappointed about it, and Mon-El couldn’t help smiling at that. When she wanted, Kara could be really competitive, and if she didn’t get anything back she tended to get a bit disappointed, just as she looked now. He lifted her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“Well, I mean, I get to be with you. That’s enough of a reward for me.” Kara’s eyes flickered to him, and slowly the corners of her lips tipped up. Her head settled on his chest.

“You can be so sappy sometimes, you know that, right?”

“Well…”

“I’m not saying I’m complaining,” she clarified, taking his hand in hers and pressing a small kiss on his knuckles. “Besides, being with you is enough of a reward for me as well, in case you were wondering. Much better than having you as my lackey.” She stopped for a second. “Though now that we mentioned that…”

“Don’t _even_ think about it,” he jokingly threatened her. Kara chuckled lightly.

“Love you, too, babe,” she said, ignoring his statement. He couldn’t help melting inside with her casual tone, as if loving him was her normal. He pressed a kiss on her hair.

“I love you, too.”


End file.
